News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-12-01
REGULAR TARANTULA KILLERS.
A Monster Wasp that Gets Away
with the Monster Species of
Spider.
From the San Francisco Examiner.l

81 have recently read in the columns
of the Examiner some very interesting
original stories about animal life," said
gentleman to reporter, ''and," he
continued, ''as they are all local or Cali
fornia stories, want to add to the num-
Der. Ny business calls me into the
country good deal, and as [ am pas
sionate lover of nature, with its myriads
of forms of animal life, 1 amuse and en-
tertain myself by taking observations.
One day while up in Caiaveras county,
l was travelling through rocky section
and was rather hard pressed for some
thing to entertain me. l finally reached
little glen, wheeled my horse about and
got under magnificent shade tree.
Then | dismOunted and sat down 10 take
a rest. Scarcely had [ touched the grass
when | was entertained beyond all ex-
pectation by Witnessing a bloody battle
between wasps and Il tarantula. / call
| them wasps, though in reality they were
not such, being much lurger and heavier
about the body, which was held together
in two separate parts by a scarcely Wis
ible coupling. Their waists seemed
even smaller than the common wasp, and
| they swung themselves about on the
coupling with ightuinglike dcxterity
The insects seemed to be very much ex-
cited about something, and acted as if
looking for prey. 1t may be that hun
ger made them furious. Anyway L
closely watched their actions and soon
discovered the cause of their rage. A
large tarantula crept from under dry
log and apparently started for his house
with all possible speed. The wasps, as
I will call them, had been dashing them
selves in all directions about the log,
but the moment the insects saw their
victim, which had evidently been hid
ing, they fell upon him furiously with
quick darts, and every dart seemed to
eject poison which made the tarantula
writhe in agony. The latter fights like
bear, resting on his launches and
using his paws and legs as weapons of
dense. The tarantula fought for his life,
and while doing 50 seemed to be con
scious that at all hazards he must make
for his house as the only hope of safety.
The wasps seemed by instinct to under
stand what was going on in the mind of
the tarantula and redoubled their merci-
less attacks. They struck their victim
so suddenly that he seemed at times to
be bewildered. But he fought desper-
ately to the last. Finally the fierce con
fiict ended; the wasps had stung and
poisoned the tarantula to death. After
the battle was over I took glance at
the body of the latter. 1t bore evidence
of terrible struggle for life. When I
approached it the wasps flew away, but
they did not fly far and were evidently
watching me. When | left the wasps
returned and Immediately commenced
to tear the dead tarantula to pieces. In
an incredibly short time they had car
ried off the body piece by piece, either
to feed their young or lay in a supply of
food for winter. L made particular in
quiries concerning the habits of the
monster wasps, and learned from some
of the old settlers that the vicious in
sects were regular tarantula killers,
and that scarcely one had ever survived
their murderous onsloughts."